This new group comprised 83 men and 18 women...

This new group comprised 83 men and 18 women, and may have included both the old and the new emigrants; among them were Abdur Rahman ibn Auf, Abu Salma Makhzoomi, and Abdullah ibn Masood. Muhammad Mustafa, the Messenger of Allah, appointed his cousin, Jaafer ibn Abi Talib, the elder brother of Ali, as the leader of this group. The second migration of the Muslims to Abyssinia took place in the sixth year of the Call (Proclamation), which corresponds to A.D. 616.

The migration of the Muslims, and their reception in Abyssinia, alarmed the Quraysh of Makka. They entertained the fear that the Muslims in Abyssinia might grow in strength or might find new allies, and then, some day, might return to Makka to challenge them. Therefore, to head off this potential threat, such as they saw it, they decided to send an embassy to the court of the king of Abyssinia to request him to extradite the Muslims to Makka.

The Muslim refugees who had expected to be left in peace, were surprised and dismayed by the arrival, in the Abyssinian capital, of an embassy from Makka, led by a certain Amr bin Ass. Amr had brought rich presents for the king and his courtiers to ingratiate himself with them. When the king gave audience to the emissary of the Quraysh, he said that the Muslims in Abyssinia were not refugees from persecution but were fugitives from justice and law; and requested him to extradite them to Makka.

The king, however, wanted to hear the other side of the story also before giving any judgment, and summoned Jaafer ibn Abi Talib, the leader of the refugees, to answer the charges against the Muslims. Jaafer made a most memorable defence. Following is a summary of his speech in the Abyssinian court in reply to the questions posed by the Christian king. "O king! We were ignorant people and we lived like wild animals. The strong among us lived by preying upon the weak.

We obeyed no law and we acknowledged no authority save that of brute force. We worshipped idols made of stone or wood, and we knew nothing of the human dignity. Then God in His mercy sent to us His messenger who was himself one of us. We knew about his truthfulness and his integrity. His character was exemplary, and he was the most well-born of the Arabs. He forbade us to worship idols and he invited us to the worship of One God.

He exhorted us to speak the truth, and to protect the weak, the poor, the humble, the widows and the orphans. He ordered us to show respect to women, and never to slander them.